P2P Finance: Are Banks Losing Their Positions?

A man was honored for 50 years of loyal service to a Virginia bank. At the party celebrating his long service, he was asked what he thought had been ‘the most important change that he had seen in banking in his half century of service?’ The man paused for a few minutes, then went to the microphone and said: ‘air conditioning’.Martin Mayer, The Bankers.

Financial experts put enormous effort into making their work look like rocket science. It pays off by keeping their club closed. However, the basic financial concepts are simple enough to explain them in ten minutes. Understanding how banks work leads to understanding how alternatives to banks work, what their advantages and disadvantages are and if we can trust them.

Peer-to-Peer lending is one of such alternatives. The Internet provides people with an option to permanently abandon the large and cumbersome centralized mediator that makes decisions for issuing loans or sets interest for deposits. Now, the Internet allows people to lend money to each other. All they need is a suitable platform.